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Discussing Connections

Steph — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:12:47 +0000

Today I wanted to discuss the four categories of Family Profits. Family, finances, income, and sustainability are four areas of our lives that typically aren’t talked about together, even though they influence each other. One or two of the connections are discussed a great deal in America – for example, most Americans feel that if they earned more income, their families, finances, and ability to live a healthy life would be stronger. Other connections are hardly ever raised – not many folks discuss how living a personally and environmentally sustainable life helps their family, their wallet, or their career. In fact, many people are living lives that make them sick (grabbing unhealthy meals on the run, not taking time to exercise or have fun, etc.) in an effort to spend more time earning an income.

I just came across a medical study that illustrates some of the less-discussed connections beautifully. Researchers at the University of Southern California discovered that children are significantly more likely to develop asthma if they are exposed to air pollution and their parents have high levels of stress. The addition of parental stress had a huge impact on the likelihood that a child would develop asthma. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to learn that exposure to air pollution can trigger breathing problems but many would be surprised to learn that stress felt by a parent could impact the health of their child. It certainly has me considering how important it is to actively manage my own stress levels in a different light.

If you are like me and want to see the study for yourself, an abstract of Parental stress increases the effect of traffic-related air pollution on childhood asthma incidence is available on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website. A link to the full text, which requires a subscription, is also available there.

Bringing it closer to home, my family has been reminded once again about the impact of these connections. Last week, while racing around trying to accomplish one last task before bedtime (exactly what I tell the girls not to do!), I caught a doorjam with my bare foot and broke a toe. School started last week so I had had BIG plans for September. Many of those had to be put on hold and Rich and I had to redo our schedules. Several of our household systems started sputtering once I was laid up. Rich has done a fabulous job (thanks again for everything, honey!) but with one of the two adults not at 100%, laundry and cleaning tasks began piling up quickly. Once I’m more mobile, we’ve got some digging out to do, which will take away time from other things. Next time I will listen more carefully to my own advice!

What connections do you see among family, finances, income, and sustainability? In what areas do you feel strong? Where would you like to make improvements?

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Four Lessons We Learned from Self Employment

Steph — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:52:56 +0000

For those of you contemplating the idea of self-employment, it may be helpful to hear some of the good and bad that comes with self-employment. Here are the biggest issues our family experienced:

Murphy’s Law is alive and well. Both my husband and I have worked in consulting (we actually met at work) so we thought we had experienced Murphy’s Law at its harshest. The notion that “if things can go wrong, they will” shifted to an entirely different level when we became parents who owned a business. If I had a hard deadline to meet and limited hours to complete the work, everyone in our family would become violently ill with the flu. If I had an important meeting at a client’s office, our babysitter would cancel at the last minute. It was stunning to watch this law come into play again and again. Know that it will. Which brings me to my second point….
Flexibility is crucial. Murphy’s Law ran rampant when I limited my options. When I leveraged the flexibility I had instead, the impact of Murphy’s Law was limited. If my daughter took an extra long nap, I would use that time to catch up on paperwork. After rescheduling several meetings and taking my baby to others after sitters canceled, I changed my childcare strategy and split the week between two sitters. That way even if one sitter had an emergency, I would (most likely) still get a couple of days to work. I also built much more time into my internal estimates for projects. I was accustomed to working at a sprint so estimated my project timelines from that viewpoint. Now I build in time for my children to be feverish and for me then contract their illnesses once the kids are feeling better – real life estimates, in other words. By assuming things will go wrong, their impact is lessened if they do.
Boundaries aren’t just for kids. With my office now in my home, the separation between work life and home life was initially, and for several years, very blurred. If I couldn’t sleep, I would drift into my office to “finish up a few things” and end up staying awake for hours. If the phone rang during dinner, I would “take a quick call” and end up motioning for my family to go ahead without me while a client started point number five on her thirteen point agenda. It took me a while to realize I needed boundaries for myself, not just for my kids. Now I have a designated work space and set hours when clients can reach me. When I shut down my computer, work time is done and family time begins.
Flowing cash makes for happy families. The first time that paying bills was problematic because a client hadn’t paid me on time was an eye opener. Cash flow can make or break a business! I had read that many times but living it was something else. Don’t paint yourself into a corner – establish an emergency fund or structure your business so cash flow issues don’t clog your financial life.

Discussing Connections Today I wanted to discuss the four categories of Family...
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What is Family Profits?

Steph — Mon, 25 May 2009 00:20:02 +0000

Family Profits is a website designed for families who want to put their family first but who still need to spend time earning money to pay the bills.

The site covers a variety of issues, including parenting, budgeting and cost cutting, employment, entrepreneurial activities, and managing all these things while living a healthy and sustainable life. Our goal is to help you make more money, have more freedom, and build the stronger family you desire.

The site was created by the husband and wife team of Stephanie and Richard. Stephanie is a grant writer who founded a nonprofit consulting company that she has run out of their home since 1999. Richard has recently switched from traditional employment to self-employment and is actively engaged in multiple ventures (a direct result of his ADD).

The parents of two young children, Rich and Steph have been wrestling with how best to balance their family life and professional lives. We know others are as well because the topic keeps coming up – at children’s birthday parties, school open houses, doctors’ offices, and the like.

We’ve found helpful information in a variety of locations, including personal finance books, parenting listservs, and management resources, but nothing that put everything together. Since our biggest struggle has been putting all the pieces of our life together, we wanted to share what we have learned and, we hope, learn from you as well. We want to use Family Profits to host the community of like-minded people we wished for when our children were born.

Please join us in making your family profitable, in every sense of the word.

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